Desperately need help with my menu planning

Tea-and-Cake_3

I have just had £124 of shopping delivered from Asda for the week and have no idea what our meals will be!

I am cooking a chilli at the moment which the children will probably not eat - they'll end up just eating the rice!

I need a 7 day menu that is healthy, cheap (we cannot possibly keep spending this amount every week) and the kids will eat. Please don't direct me to the OS board as I don't have the time to search through threads.

Any ideas would be so appreciated. Family life in our home is so chaotic at the moment and food is one area I need to address.

The shopping we've had includes lots of fruit and veg and things like lentils, mince, tinned tomatoes etc

Amanda65

Without knowing what you have had delivered or what is in your cupboards / freezer it is rather difficult to suggest meals but my staples always include (not every week) the following:-

Bolognese
Lasagne (made from same batch of Bolognese sauce and frozen)
Chicken in bacon with new pots and salad
Sausage and bean hotpot
A stew
Spicy pork mince
Moussaka
Chicken in lentils and bacon
Stir fry with noodles
Seafood pasta
Fish (mackeral, salmon, tuna) oven baked or grilled

Most of my recipes come from BBC Good Food
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com

Hth

Tea-and-Cake_3

They sound great, how long do you usually spend preparing food each day?

I am trying to cook this chilli and entertain my 7 month old but will try to post a list of what's been delivered shortly if that helps.

Amanda65

Depends on the meal - anything from 10 minutes to about 40 minutes but I cook from scratch every day. I would be preparing the food while little one is having a nap and trying to bulk cook and have stuff in the freezer for days when you don't have time to cut down on cooking every day.

TudorRose

Post this on the Old Style Money Saving board & you'll soon have lots of answers.
There are lots of people posting on there who will give you lots of ideas.

gunsandbanjos

I find it easier to plan my meals and then buy what I need rather than buy stuff then plan round it, I always find I don't have something for a meal then have to go back to the shop and end up buying more than I need.

BAGGY

Learn how to fully utilise a roast chicken (especially as Tescos have 1/2 price atm) and also a bacon joint.
If I cook a large chick at the weekend for roast or salad then we can normaqlly do about 4 days worth of meals for 2 adults and 2 5yo. Same applies to bacon joint. If you get bored then freeze the left overs to add to something like quiche or pasta on another day.
Make a vat of basic mince sauce and a vat of basic tomato sauce and bulk it with loads ov veg. freeze in portions so you can get a mince out to make shepherds pie and only have to adapt it slightly and add mash or turn it into spag bol. This halves time in the kitchen. If you freeze it as basic mince your kids might eat it before you add spices and kidney beans which you can add to your half?
There are loads of ways to cut down costs and thousands of people here are full of great tips. BEst of luck

Tea-and-Cake_3

Ok I have the chilli bubbling away and a separate pot for the baby without the spices. Food just delivered was ...

crisps
baby food pouches, rusks, rice cakes (I'm happy to make HM but always seems to be runnung arounf like a headless chicken with nothing prepared)
dried apricots
biscuits and cereal bars
tins of tuna
lentils
tin of sweetcorn
tomato puree
passata
kidney beans
chick peas
cannellini beans
baked beans
stock cubes
orange juice
eggs
milk
bread
mince
parmesan, cheddar
ham
butter
yogurts
frozen kievs, fish fingers and chicken fingers and breaded fish
blueberries, celery, onions, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, courgettes, parsnips, bananas, kiwis, apples, pears, grapes, cabbage, leeks, broccoli

Obviously this didn't come to £124 but I also got toilet roll, kitchen roll, washing up liquid, washing powder, baby wipes, nappies, deodorant, toothpaste....I still don't know how people on here manage to get their weeks shopping for a family of five for about £50 but that's for another thread!

Kayalana99

Thanks for posting :-) I was going to post a similar thread last night but never got round to it......I have no idea what to do Im a complete newbie when it comes to these things

Our meals on a good week are;

Cottage Pie
Spag and Bol
Beef and Pots with veg
Cajun chicken and chips
Sausage and Mash

Then we turn to freezer stuff/takeaways.... -.-

Amanda65

Add a tuna and sweetcorn pasta bake to the list then, with a crushed crisp and grated cheese crunchy topping

Tea-and-Cake_3

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Thanks for posting :-) I was going to post a similar thread last night but never got round to it......I have no idea what to do Im a complete newbie when it comes to these things

Our meals on a good week are;

Cottage Pie
Spag and Bol
Beef and Pots with veg
Cajun chicken and chips
Sausage and Mash

Then we turn to freezer stuff/takeaways.... -.-

Same here, glad I'm not the only one:T